


A Really Bad Idea

by Bluewolf458



Category: The Sentinel
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-24
Updated: 2015-10-24
Packaged: 2018-04-27 21:04:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,765
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5064085
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bluewolf458/pseuds/Bluewolf458
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A lazy student thinks he can buy Blair</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Really Bad Idea

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Sentinel Thursday to the prompts bad idea and bribery

A Really Bad Idea

by Bluewolf

"It's a bad idea," Danny said. "It's a really, really bad idea."

"Why?" Jasper asked. He liked his younger brother, he did (as he kept telling himself), but sometimes he was more than irritated by what he saw as Danny's cautious approach to life. He had never quite registered that it gave Danny a more - well, comfortable life than the more hot-headed Jasper himself ever knew. The only reason Jasper had never been in serious trouble was his basic laziness.

"For a start, how do you know that Professor Sandburg will accept a bribe? You know the problems he had last year, and what happened - "

"With Tom Lord? Tom was just stupid. He tried threats, forgetting Sandburg's stories about the places he'd visited, the primitive tribes he'd met. If even half of those stories were true, of course threats weren't going to work. But paying the man to give me a good grade - that's different. You know how short of money TAs are - they wouldn't do the job if they weren't. And I certainly won't miss a few hundred - it doesn't even have to come out of my allowance, all I have to do is ask Mom and she'll give me it, you know that."

Yes, Danny knew that, and was less than happy with the knowledge. He, too, only had to ask for something if he overspent the very generous allowance he got, and their mother would provide it; but Danny had the sense to realize that getting anything he wanted just because he wanted it was not a good idea. She had, he decided, turned Jasper into a spoiled brat.

Danny hoped that by limiting what he asked for, he was ensuring that he would grow up to be independent, managing for himself even if it meant sometimes doing without something expensive he would like to have but that wasn't an essential. He carefully saved a set percentage of his allowance every month, and that went into a 'do not touch' account that was intended for emergencies.

Jasper, however... He was mildly fond of Jasper, but had no respect for him. They would inevitably outlive their mother, whose wealth seemed to be unlimited; but however much she left to Jasper, he would soon spent it all because he had never learned to do without. Never learned how to manage the generous allowance he received every month. And Danny promised himself that when that day came, he would not be the sucker their mother was. If Jasper came trying to scrounge off him, he would say no, and mean it. But he also knew that the best way to do that would be to take his money and leave Cascade; tell Jasper he was moving to - possibly - Los Angeles but, instead, leave America, and break off all contact with Jasper as he went.

***

"Professor Sandburg?"

Blair glanced up as his office door opened. He recognized the young man who stood there, his mind automatically slotting him into the category of 'intelligent but incurably lazy'.

"Yes, Jasper?" He had long abandoned the apparent futility of reminding the students that he was not yet a 'professor', but merely someone still on the way to becoming one.

"Have you marked my essay yet?" he asked as he walked in, leaving the door open behind him.

"Yes." His tone was not encouraging. "It's competent, but not worth more than C-. However, I'm prepared to discuss with you ways in which you could improve on that."

"Professor, I'm willing to pay you $500 if you'll change that to C+, and a further $500 if you grade my next essay B."

Blair's jaw dropped. He gaped at the student for a moment, then shook his head. "I'm sorry, Jasper, but bribery won't work. You can't buy a better grade from me. Do the studying, write a better essay - you have the ability - and you'll automatically get a better grade. But that's the only way you'll get a C+ or a B from me."

"Professor, don't tell me you don't need more money than you earn as a TA. I've got plenty, and I'm willing to give you some of it - "

"What part of 'no' don't you understand?" Blair asked. "And who said I'm short of money? But even if I was, I don't accept bribes. Oh - and in case you're thinking of going to Chancellor Edwards and accusing me of saying I'd give you a better mark if you paid me - I automatically record every meeting I have with a student."

"And he has a witness," a quiet voice said from the doorway.

Jasper swung around. A tall man stood there, smiling faintly. "I turned that corner - " he nodded backwards - "just as you went in the door, and you were careless enough to leave it open; anyone walking down the corridor would have heard you."

Jasper looked from one to the other, his movements vaguely reminiscent of a rabbit caught between two hunting dogs. And then he turned and rushed out.

***

Danny looked up from the book he was studying as Jasper joined him in the living room of the apartment they shared.

"So what happened?" he asked; it seemed to him that Jasper looked slightly shell-shocked.

"He... he turned me down."

_Yes_ , Danny thought, not totally surprised. "What happened?" he repeated.

"He... he said he didn't accept bribes. And then someone else came in who said he'd heard everything... and I left."

"Professor Sandburg isn't a man to harbor grudges," Danny suggested. "You could try studying more and partying less. Produce a good essay and he'll give you a good grade."

"Why should I have to work for something that should be mine by right?"

"Don't you get any satisfaction out of working to accomplish something?" Danny asked.

Jasper looked at him, total bewilderment in his eyes. "Why should I, when things are usually so easy to buy? Why won't he sell me a good grade?"

Danny shook his head. "Obviously money doesn't mean much to him," he said, trying to sound sympathetic. "He has as much as he wants or needs - "

"Danny, everyone wants more money! And if someone has plenty why can't he buy something from someone who doesn't have as much?"

"Jasper, if you spend all your money - or, rather, Mom's money - where will you get more?"

He knew instantly from the puzzled expression on his brother's face that Jasper was making no sense of his question.

"Mom has so much money it'll never run out."

"You don't know that. But if that's what you believe - why did you bother coming to Rainier? Why didn't you just settle for living a life of luxury off your allowance? Goodness knows it's big enough, especially when Mom augments it so readily."

"The girls. I don't want to marry an empty-headed idiot. At Rainier I'm meeting intelligent girls - and a lot of them are looking for rich husbands. I haven't made my mind up yet, but I'll be married to one of them before I graduate."

"Jasper, if you don't work harder you won't graduate. None of your marks are terribly good, you know that - and for all you know - Sandburg was the first one you tried, wasn't he?"

Jasper nodded.

"You can't assume any of your other lecturers will be any more willing to accept a bribe."

"I don't need to listen to you being so defeatist! Money will buy anything!"

"It didn't buy Sandburg."

Jasper snarled in annoyance.

***

"Ellison!"

Jim sighed as he rose from his desk and crossed to Simon's office. He had far too much paperwork to catch up with, and Blair was fully occupied at Rainier that day.

"There's been a report of a disturbance at Rainier," Simon said. "And Jim... Sandburg's involved."

"What?"

"Apparently he was attacked. His assailant... well, the kid defended himself well, and managed to knock his attacker out. He got him tied up and called Campus Security. And then they called us, because - "

"Because it reached that level of violence? Okay, I'm on my way." Jim turned to leave.

He made the journey to Rainier using lights and siren, and was parked and halfway from the parking lot to Hargrove Hall before the Patrol car sent to pick up the man who'd attacked Blair arrived.

He rushed down the stairs to Blair's 'office', finding Blair sitting talking to Suzanne Tomaki, with a young man lying on the floor, his hands firmly tied to the chair Suzanne was occupying.

"You all right, Chief?"

Blair grinned. "Your lessons in self-defence worked a charm."

Jim nodded and glanced at the young man on the floor. He frowned. "You."

Suzanne raised her eyebrows. "You recognize him?"

"This is the guy who visited Sandburg yesterday, trying to bribe him into giving him a higher grade than he deserved. I overheard him from the corridor."

"I was going to let it go," Blair said, "but since he decided to attack me today - presumably because I didn't agree to change his grade - I'm going to take it to Chancellor Edwards. I'd guess he would have attacked me yesterday if Detective Ellison hadn't arrived when he did."

***

When the phone rang, Danny answered it, wondering if it was his brother, who was seriously overdue home.

"Danny."

"Mom?" There was a note in his mother's voice that made him uneasy. "Is something wrong?"

"Jasper attacked one of the Rainier lecturers today. He's under arrest. But all he'll say is 'The bastard asked for it!' Do you have any idea... ?"

Danny sighed. "I think so." He explained what had happened the previous day. There was a brief silence before his mother answered.

"I brought you both up the same way. Why did he go so wrong? You didn't!"

"Basically... he's lazy. I'm not."

"Well, I'm not bailing him out this time. Or ever again. He has to learn to work."

They exchanged a few more words, then hung up.

Danny looked at the phone for a minute, and shook his head. "I think you're too late, Mom. I doubt he'll ever learn."

Then he turned, went into his bedroom and began packing his things. Jasper could have this apartment... if he could afford to keep it. He would see about getting a new apartment in the morning. He didn't want to live with his brother any longer. Jasper had left him to do most of the cleaning and cooking; and like his mother, Danny too had had enough.

It was more than time that Jasper learned to stand on his own two feet.


End file.
